Haji Lane & Arab Street ☆ Singapore

One weekend before we left Singapore, we explored Arab Street and Haji Lane. I wish we went there earlier during our stay because it was so much fun!!

We got on a taxi and asked our driver to take us to Arab Street. I didn’t do much research prior to our visit. The taxi driver asked whether we wanted to be dropped off at Haji Lane or Arab Street and we asked what he recommended. He suggested Haji Lane and dropped us off in the corner of Haji Lane and Beach Rd.

When I lived in Singapore many years ago, Haji Lane did not have today’s look. This street hosts many cool shops that tickled my curiosity and if I was there alone and had as much time as I wanted to spend there, I would’ve stayed there all day peeking in and stopping by every single store and shopped. I love the shops on Haji Lane!!

We walked on Haji Lane from Beach Road to North Bridge Road. We took a right and the next street was Arab Street.

There are many fabric stores as well as carpet stores on Arab Street.

We walked from the North Bridge Road end on Arab Street to the Beach Road and spotted this Swedish Cafe and Bistro, Fika, in the corner of Arab Street and Beach Road, that looked adorable. I could not help peeking in. The interior looked absolutely adorable and if we were walking around much earlier during the day, I would’ve had some tea and snack there or if I ever go back to visit Arab Street in Singapore, I will definitely try to Fika. Fika was packed with the customers I assumed were local which is always a good sign and I was very tempted, but we saved our empty stomach for Middle Eastern Food.

Click here to check out Fika’s beautiful website.
Fika Facebook

Then we walked back a block on Arab Street towards North Bridge Road and turned right to go to Bussora Street where it looked like a street filled with restaurants.

There were restaurants everywhere. I wish we researched places to eat, but we didn’t, so we had to pick a place based on our guesses. We first wanted to go to Alaturka, a Turkish restaurant on Bussora Street, because it looked nice from outside and it seemed like it was popular. Unfortunately it was fully booked and without a reservation, we could not get a table on a Saturday night. Had I known!

So we walked over to a Lebanese restaurant, Beirut, on the same Bussorah Street.

The food was fine and we enjoyed our meal, but the value for the price wasn’t high enough for us to say we’d go back if we visit Singapore. Maybe it’s different if we lived in Singapore. I am curious and would like to try out Alaturka or some other places if we go back to Bussora Street.

It was really nice to be able to sit outside and eat though. We don’t get to do this often in Jakarta and even if we could, it would not be as pleasant in Jakarta as it was in Singapore.

As we dined at Beirut, the night veiled the town and it was time for us to go home to put our kids in bed.

I loved visiting the Arab Street area. If you travel to Singapore, I highly recommend you explore Arab Street.

Arab Street & Haji Lane
Area Map